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£132

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14 days

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I would like to introduce you to one of my dearest friends - Elene. Elene has an exceptional personality - she is smart, she is brilliant, she is generous, she is loving, she is hardworking and on top of everything she is a great friend. Elene comes from Georgia and no, she is from the US, even though she lives there now. She is coming from Georgia - a picturesque tiny country that is located on the crossroads of Eastern Europe and West Asia. She is probably lucky to be born in the country with such old traditions and history. But if would have been born in another Georgia (which state in the US), she wouldn't be facing such a big stress as she is going through at the moment.

Elene is a second year M.A. student at California State University,Fresno. She is studying Applied Behavior Analysis. For those (like me), who doesn't know much about applied behavior analysis (ABA) is the application of the principles of learning theory to change behavior of social significance or in other words, who do not understand she applies those principles to teach kids with autism.

During the last year and a half she has been studying very hard and she is doing it brilliantly (believe me, I know her!). I remember the moment when me and her other friends were supporting her at taking a risk to study in US, despite her financial difficulties and to follow her calling to study Applied Behavior Analysis. Before her studies began, she has managed to take a small loan from Georgia banks, she has received small scholarships and her friends collected some money for her as well. With all tremendous effort, she made it ALMOST to the end of her studies. BUT she still needs $8,000 to finish it. And as I mentioned if she would have been born in Georgia, USA she would be able to take a student loan in the United States. After applying to banks in the US, she was refused in loan due to her Georgian nationality and passport. This loan would have covered her last term in the university plus one semester for her research project. I believe that studying Applied Behavior Analysis is quite a stressful thing to do and thinking about how/where to get money is a much bigger stress for her at the moment.

Worrying about her and all her stress, I have decided to try crowdfunding, where all of us can help her in achieving her goal. Every little makes a mickle. Many a little makes a mickle. I DO believe in the power of kindness, love, solidarity and I DO hope that this crowdfunding will be successful.